Growing up as the only girl in a family of three boys had it's advantages.
I learned to climb trees like a pro, but always had someone around to mow the grass so I didn't have to. I got to meet all my brothers' cute (older) friends, always had a great swing dance partner or someone strong to help me carry a heavy load, served as the resident expert on girls for all my brothers, and generally got to be the rose among the thorns (ha, in my own humble opinion ).
I respect them, they make me laugh and I think they each have their way of changing the world.
But they are manly men. Nothing sisterly about them. I love 'em, but that said, I want to write about the beauty of hanging out with the gals who have filled that sister gap.
My mama is still one of my best friends and one of the most servant-hearted women I know. She was an essential part of my "women's team" for many years, which has now expanded to include five lovely sister-in-laws and a mother-in-law--and I welcome the company!
Sisters just have a unique way of relating to one another and encouraging one another through life's twists and turns. Girlfriends are that way, too. No one but Stephanie and I know why hanging upside down on Nomi's monkey bars and shouting "This is sooo weird!" was all that fun. But we do. We have history.
No one but Becca, Connie and Julie know what in the world motivated us to move all our living room furniture outside by Union's fountain on a sunny day, or--well, that's the beauty of good friends ... I can't even write all our secrets and escapades here, but I bet they are giggling about them right now!
Talking to Keri and Julie always makes me want to praise, to pray, to be a better woman, but be content in who God has made me. And I could name more women who touch my heart like that.
My girl's prayer group in Denver filled my heart with true community and my life is definitely sorer for the lack of "pop-cultural references." (That was a sisterly insider phrase, if ya didn't catch it.) They taught me true hospitality, zest for life in a new life stage and modeled consistency in the midst of all kinds of messes and victories. I miss them.
I don't have anyone here in Oxford that I share very much history with (unless we're talking about all the amazing British history we're surrounded by here), but I have found a common bond in Christ with a handful of women at Wycliffe. We meet each Thursday to study a book of the Bible, have a cup of tea and share prayer requests.
I pray that one of these days, we might just smile over an inside joke or use the same catch phrase at the same time--or vacuum for each other because we're too pregnant to move.
But even if that doesn't happen anytime soon, I am grateful God has blessed me with like-minded women who love God, love their families and children, hunger for His Word and desire obedience. I believe company like that is worth keeping and I hope we sharpen one another.
So when people ask if I've found friends here ... yes, I have! We've exchanged some get-togethers with a few folks and made acquaintances and I'm excited about getting to know everyone more, but I know those deep relationships I treasure so much take time. This transition has grown my appreciation of those oldie-but-goodie friendships.
In the meantime, I am kissing the ground with thankfulness that God has placed me in a new opportunity to grow, provided potential friends and continues to bless me with the intimate friendships I've been part of pre-Oxford. So, I welcome the new, cherish the old and simply enjoy the now. Thank God for sisters!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
A very British Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Official Christmas Report
A a few of my friends have asked me what differences we've discovered about the way Christmas is celebrated in the UK. A few observations:
-Christmas seems like a much more formal event. LOTS of going to church and listening to the angelic sounds of boy choirs. Everyone we know enjoyed a candlelit dinner on Christmas evening and we were in awe of the massive, richly decorated Christmas tree in our church (which looks like a cathedral inside). Gorgeous!!
-We discovered Christmas "crackers." These are not Christmas appetizers, but in fact are little presents with a small popper firework attached to the packaging. When you open your present with a "pop," candy and silly jokes spill out. Here was my joke:
"What do you say when you finally see pigs fly? I guess the price of bacon just went up!" (Nick and I thought it should have said "Now you have a bad case of swine flu (flew)." These cheesy joke companies should really hire us!
-We ate sticky toffee pudding, bread sauce and mince pies for the first time ... traditions our tummies will always welcome. We also ate something called "bubble and squeak" which we may not try to replicate any time soon (It's based on Christmas dinner leftovers, to give you an idea).
--Liam discovered the joy of wrapping paper. He loves the crinkle, he loves the crunch, and he, unfortunately, likes to munch! He was pretty sly. He would reach his tiny hands out toward whoever was sitting beside me as if to wave, then he would snag the paper and immediately try to ingest it. He'd finish with a huge smile, completely winning over whoever's paper he just tried to destroy. For the most part, I kept him to his own paper, but he made the most of it.
--We are so thankful for the Christmas cards, photos and care packages from our family and friends. It was fun to have some cute things under the tree and I loved hanging a Baby's First Christmas stocking. I couldn't wait until Christmas for most of the things that came in my care package, so we gradually opened them up in the days leading up to Christmas. Very fun to have Christmas for a month!
Mixing new and old traditions
We loved that we were able to celebrate Christmas as our own little family, sitting around the tree looking at the lights, listening to Bing croon away and sipping hot chocolate. We read some of the Scripture that foretells Jesus' coming and then read the Christmas story on Christmas day.
We ate Christmas dinner with the Edwards family (imagine six kids plus cousins, neighbors and grandparents and you can just imagine the fun and chaos. At one point, Liam had four little girls surrounding him on a blanket making faces at him. Our little socialite LOVED the attention!
When we opened a few little presents after dinner, I sat next to a sweet little old neighbor lady who had attended Oxford in the 1950s. She told me all about attending lectures by C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. According to her, Lewis had a barrel chest and a booming voice, but you couldn't hear a word Tolkien said unless you sat in the first three rows of the lecture hall.
Cookies across the globe--and other Christmas highlights
The week before Christmas, we enjoyed a biscuit (biscuit is the British word for cookie) exchange with people from our building (Summertown House). I had been wanting to get to know more of our neighbors and thought it might be a good chance to share a little about our Christmas traditions and the meaning behind them with people from all over the world.
Just as I was about to put out signs announcing a Christmas party for the building, Nick saw Ben and Deanna--the other American couple from Wycliffe--putting up cookie exchange signs. They were hoping to do the same thing! So we joined forces and brought our Christmas tree down to the common room for decoration (it was easy to move since it is only three feet high) and I baked 3 dozen big fat, butter-filled sugar cookies with homemade icing.
I was thrilled that I not only got to meet people from Egypt, Ghana and Georgia (the republic not the state), but I didn't even have to put up the posters! You can't get a better deal than that. I am so thankful for like-minded new friends like Ben and Deanna. They have been a great blessing to us here and we love living just down the hall from them. We even got to try out our double stroller with their daughter, Nora, inside when we babysat for them on Christmas Eve afternoon.
Nick and I topped off the holidays with a New Year's Eve at home eating homemade ginger cookies and watching fireworks from our balcony. The fireworks part was kind of a last-minute thought and we ran out barefoot in the FREEZING cold. I snagged Nick's boots from behind the balcony door, so we rang in the New Year each wearing one boot and hanging onto each other to stay warm! (I wasn't about to go back inside for more shoes and miss the glorious display!! Totally worth it. I still even have most of my toes.)
What was your favorite part of the holidays this year?
A a few of my friends have asked me what differences we've discovered about the way Christmas is celebrated in the UK. A few observations:
-Christmas seems like a much more formal event. LOTS of going to church and listening to the angelic sounds of boy choirs. Everyone we know enjoyed a candlelit dinner on Christmas evening and we were in awe of the massive, richly decorated Christmas tree in our church (which looks like a cathedral inside). Gorgeous!!
-We discovered Christmas "crackers." These are not Christmas appetizers, but in fact are little presents with a small popper firework attached to the packaging. When you open your present with a "pop," candy and silly jokes spill out. Here was my joke:
"What do you say when you finally see pigs fly? I guess the price of bacon just went up!" (Nick and I thought it should have said "Now you have a bad case of swine flu (flew)." These cheesy joke companies should really hire us!
-We ate sticky toffee pudding, bread sauce and mince pies for the first time ... traditions our tummies will always welcome. We also ate something called "bubble and squeak" which we may not try to replicate any time soon (It's based on Christmas dinner leftovers, to give you an idea).
--Liam discovered the joy of wrapping paper. He loves the crinkle, he loves the crunch, and he, unfortunately, likes to munch! He was pretty sly. He would reach his tiny hands out toward whoever was sitting beside me as if to wave, then he would snag the paper and immediately try to ingest it. He'd finish with a huge smile, completely winning over whoever's paper he just tried to destroy. For the most part, I kept him to his own paper, but he made the most of it.
--We are so thankful for the Christmas cards, photos and care packages from our family and friends. It was fun to have some cute things under the tree and I loved hanging a Baby's First Christmas stocking. I couldn't wait until Christmas for most of the things that came in my care package, so we gradually opened them up in the days leading up to Christmas. Very fun to have Christmas for a month!
Mixing new and old traditions
We loved that we were able to celebrate Christmas as our own little family, sitting around the tree looking at the lights, listening to Bing croon away and sipping hot chocolate. We read some of the Scripture that foretells Jesus' coming and then read the Christmas story on Christmas day.
We ate Christmas dinner with the Edwards family (imagine six kids plus cousins, neighbors and grandparents and you can just imagine the fun and chaos. At one point, Liam had four little girls surrounding him on a blanket making faces at him. Our little socialite LOVED the attention!
When we opened a few little presents after dinner, I sat next to a sweet little old neighbor lady who had attended Oxford in the 1950s. She told me all about attending lectures by C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. According to her, Lewis had a barrel chest and a booming voice, but you couldn't hear a word Tolkien said unless you sat in the first three rows of the lecture hall.
Cookies across the globe--and other Christmas highlights
The week before Christmas, we enjoyed a biscuit (biscuit is the British word for cookie) exchange with people from our building (Summertown House). I had been wanting to get to know more of our neighbors and thought it might be a good chance to share a little about our Christmas traditions and the meaning behind them with people from all over the world.
Just as I was about to put out signs announcing a Christmas party for the building, Nick saw Ben and Deanna--the other American couple from Wycliffe--putting up cookie exchange signs. They were hoping to do the same thing! So we joined forces and brought our Christmas tree down to the common room for decoration (it was easy to move since it is only three feet high) and I baked 3 dozen big fat, butter-filled sugar cookies with homemade icing.
I was thrilled that I not only got to meet people from Egypt, Ghana and Georgia (the republic not the state), but I didn't even have to put up the posters! You can't get a better deal than that. I am so thankful for like-minded new friends like Ben and Deanna. They have been a great blessing to us here and we love living just down the hall from them. We even got to try out our double stroller with their daughter, Nora, inside when we babysat for them on Christmas Eve afternoon.
Nick and I topped off the holidays with a New Year's Eve at home eating homemade ginger cookies and watching fireworks from our balcony. The fireworks part was kind of a last-minute thought and we ran out barefoot in the FREEZING cold. I snagged Nick's boots from behind the balcony door, so we rang in the New Year each wearing one boot and hanging onto each other to stay warm! (I wasn't about to go back inside for more shoes and miss the glorious display!! Totally worth it. I still even have most of my toes.)
What was your favorite part of the holidays this year?
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